This invention relates to a system for providing an information distribution service. More particularly, the invention relates to a service providing system that makes it possible to appropriately select information that is useful for the user of a mobile information terminal such as a mobile telephone, distribute this information to the terminal and raise the effectiveness of such distribution on the side that distributes the information.
The spread of the Internet combined with the growing popularity of mobile information terminals such as mobile telephones that are capable of utilizing Internet services such as electronic mail has given new promise to the future of services that provide these mobile information terminals with information such as advertisements that conform to time, place and circumstances. Furthermore, as a result of the fact that a mobile information terminal the position of which can be ascertained highly precisely has been put into practical use, the realization of such services is at hand.
With information distribution services according to prior art of the kind proposed heretofore in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-216021 and Japanese Patent Application No. 2002-88432, it is presumed that information will be distributed to a group of terminals in any area at any time. Though it is assumed to some extent that a terminal will move with time, how a number of terminals will move as a group is not taken into account.
With regard to the distribution of advertisements, it is desired that the effectiveness of such distribution be grasped quantitatively to the greatest extent possible. Though the effectiveness of advertisements through the conventional mass media has been measured, the accuracy of such measurements has been very low. Furthermore, usually the time at which the measurement is made is a considerably long period of time after the advertisement was distributed and it is conceivable that the accuracy of the measurement as such time will not be high.
In a conventional system that provides an information distribution service, there are a large number of service users and a large number of information providers, and each of the information service providers distributes a plurality of announcement messages to the service users under respectively different conditions. Information distribution services are carried out as follows in the prior art:
{circle around (1)} Utilization of the particular service is registered or contracted between a service user and the operator of a server system and between the operator of the server system and the information provider. The server system distributes appropriately an advertisement desired by the information provider to a prescribed service user located in a prescribed area.
{circle around (2)} The server system constantly receives position information concerning service users and, shortly before a time specified by the information provider, selects from among the service users those that match users who reside in a designated area and for which an attribute has been designated by the information provider.
{circle around (3)} A list of the service users selected in {circle around (2)} above is sent from the server system to the information provider, the information provider narrows down the list further and then distributes information to the service users in the list.
The goal of distributing information is to enhance the recognition of a product or company in the hope that this will lead to sales activity. The desire of a party requesting message distribution is to acquire an objective appraisal regarding the effectiveness of information distribution, to ascertain a distribution method that will maximize the effectiveness of distribution, and to measure the effectiveness of information distribution as precisely as possible and in a short period of time.
The conventional method of distributing information is to distribute information to a service user located in a designated area at a designated time. Adopting a busy shopping area where it is evident that people will gather as an area targeted beforehand for distribution will promise greater effectiveness than distributing the information uniformly over a wide area. However, a useful method has yet to be found with regard to evaluating the effectiveness of such distribution or with regard to what distribution method should be employed to enhance the effectiveness of distribution.